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Former TSB bank museum to reopen in 2024

Savings Banks Museum Ruthwell's Savings Banks MuseumsSavings Banks Museum
The museum is in Ruthwell near Dumfries

A museum at the site of the world's first savings bank is to reopen next year under new ownership and following major restoration work.

Minister Henry Duncan set up his "penny bank" for parishioners in Ruthwell in Dumfries and Galloway in 1810.

The TSB bank had owned the Savings Banks Museum, and the site was threatened with closure in 2021.

Comlongon Estate, in nearby Clarencefield, has taken over the running of the museum.

Prof David Thomson and Teresa Church, who own Comlongon, said the property was one of the most important historical sites in Dumfries and Galloway.

They said the museum would be restored "sympathetically and appropriately".

Annandale Distillery Teresa Church and Prof David ThomsonAnnandale Distillery
Teresa Church and Prof David Thomson have taken over the museum

Ms Church said: "We want to capture the spirit of the fantastic achievements of Henry Duncan, with all his many hats, not just as a minister but as a real man of the people, who worked hard to help them in any way he could.

"He encouraged them to have a view on things and an education because he thought that was the way to get out of the poverty trap."

Ownership of the Savings Banks Museum was transferred from TSB to Comlongon Estate Ltd at the end of July.

Scientist Prof Thomson and businesswoman Ms Church are also co-owners of Annandale Distillery and custodians of historic The Globe Inn in Dumfries.